SpiritPervades the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburghduring the Chinese Lantern Festival

by Pat Clifford
RBGE Senior Horticulturist
Click images to enlarge

Over the long winter months in Scotland my
pond can be a bit uninspiring without the presence of the Victorias
and Nymphaeas, so it was my great pleasure to learn that
the RBGE glasshouses had been chosen to host the launch of "China
Now in Scotland".

This is a year-long festival and the most
important festival ever devoted to China in our country. Its
aims are to create a lasting legacy which will see closer links
forged between both nations. The RBGE was chosen because we have
a long history with China going back well over a century. Indeed
over a third of the plants grown at our four Scottish sites are
originally from China making this the richest collection of wild-origin
Chinese plants outside their native country. The Garden has also
been twined with the Kunming Institute of Botany since 1991.

It is a tradition in China to have the Spring
Lantern Festival 15 days after New Year to mark the end of the
celebrations. Chinese New Year was 7 February in 2008, so 22
February was the correct date to begin (the date on which Spirit
opened to the public). It is a celebration of the arrival of
spring and the return of light after the darkness of winter.

As you can imagine there was a huge amount of
work which began weeks before the opening. Installation of the
lights in the glasshouses and all the lighting and design were
undertaken by an outside contractor, NVA*, with us helping with
the logistics, e.g. erecting scaffolding, wading in ponds etc.

The event was formally opened by Alex Salmond,
the First Minister of Scotland, and was attended by many VIP's
and dignitaries including the Lord Provost of Edinburgh.

The main entrance was through the Victorian Palm
House, then through the Tropical Palm House and into the Orchid
House, where they had really spooky Chinese music and a dry ice
machine. On the temperate walkway visitors were served green
tea and had the opportunity to make a beautiful origami lotus
flowers on which they were encouraged to write a wish. These
were then launched on my Victoria pond which was decorated with
underlit Perspex "Victoria leaves" which displayed
Chinese characters meaning Peace, Beauty, Compassion and Happiness.

I, of course, had the unenviable task of removing
several hundred origami lotuses every morning and discarding
everyone's wishes. At least they went on the compost heap so
hopefully it hasn't affected my karma too much.

Over the course of 13 evenings we had 6443
visitors and the response was overwhelming. The visitors all
entered at staggered intervals so it was never too crowded to
lose the ambience and unique atmosphere.

*"NVA is an environmental arts charity based
in Glasgow. It works with pioneering artists to produce highly
complex and ambitious site-specific events, festivals and interventions.
The company works across all media, promoting strong cross-cultural
community work within technologically ground-breaking initiatives."
Visit the site to see outstanding images of their projects.